Often people are invited along to a meeting, although according to their website any lay Catholic may ask to join Opus Dei as long as they are at least 18 years old. It takes over five years to join, with a person's commitment to joining having to be renewed each year, before a lifelong commitment is possible.

Is Opus Dei growing?

But Opus Dei is hardly a mass movement within the estimated 62 million-member U.S. Catholic Church. Since it was first brought to the United States in 1949, Opus Dei has grown only to about 3,000 official members nationwide, 98 percent of them lay, according to Brian Finnerty, Opus Dei's national spokesman.

Is Opus Dei recognized by the Catholic Church?

Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (Latin: Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church which teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. ...